_Mr. Rutherford's Letters_,
Divided in two Parts.
_The First_,
Containing those which were written from Aberdeen,
where he was confined by a sentence of the High
Commission; drawn forth against him, partly
upon the account of his declining them, partly
upon the account of his Non-Conformity.
_The Second_,
Containing some which were written from Anwoth
before he was by the Prelates' Persecution thrust from
his ministry; & others upon diverse occasions
afterward, from St. Andrews, London, &c.
Now published for the use of all the people of God,
but more particularly for those who now are or afterward
may be put to Suffering, for Christ and His cause.
_By a Wellwisher to the Work & People of God._
John xvi. 2. "They shall put you out of the synagogues; yea, the
time cometh, that whosoever killeth you will think that he doeth
God service. V. 3. And these things will they do, because they
have not known the Father, nor me."
2 Thess. i. 6. "Seeing it is a righteous thing with God, to
recompense tribulation to them that trouble you; V. 7. And to you
who are troubled rest with us; when the Lord Jesus shall be
revealed from heaven, with His mighty angels," &c.
Printed in the Year cI[c] I[c]c LXIIII By some mistake in reading the
numeral letters, booksellers' catalogues have spoken of editions in
1662 and 1663; but there were none such. Such a mistake might easily
occur in writing the numerals. In a _Manuscript of the Letters_
(kindly forwarded to the Editor by Rev. A. B. Grosart, Kinross), the
date of the First Edition is written thus: cIↄ Iↄc; LIIII. Here
there is, beyond doubt, a mistake; the X is omitted from LXIIII.; for
the MS. is merely a _copy of the First Edition_. It copies out the
title-page in full, and then appends this note: "_Intended to be
wryten from the printed book, by the wryter, for particular use, and
for several reasons unnecessary to be inserted._" Some of the
"Testimonies of the Martyrs" are appended, as they appeared in the
"Cloud of Witnesses" afterwards. There are now and then marginal
notes, all of which are simply hints as to what the Letter contains,
thus: "Cause of Rutherford's confinement;" "Comfort for the servants
of God and for ministers." The existence, however, of such a MS.,
copied with such pains from a printed volume, tells the high esteem in
which the Letters were held. We may note one small matter. In this MS.
the name "_Bethaia_" (so written in all the printed editions) is given
"_Bethia_;" showing that the name was so written at _that_ time also,
as it is always now.
2. The _Second Edition._--It appeared in 1671, an exact reprint of the
first, with the same title-page, etc. But it is very inaccurate;
_e.g._ there are ten obvious misspellings of common words in the two
first pages, not to speak of _bad punctuation_, which is a fault
common to all the early editions.
3. The _Third Edition_, in 1675, retains the original title-page,
except that it has, "In _Three_ Parts," and "The _Second_ and
_Third_." This last Part contains sixty-eight additional Letters. This
edition is the one which subsequent editors follow. It omits the
original "Preface to the Christian Reader," and has only four
introductory pages, two of which are the advertisement about the lost
MS. of Rutherford on _Isaiah_. It has a long "Postscript," in which we
cannot say there is much that is important.